The Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation has awarded a $650,000 grant over four years to the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education to create iGraduate Montana.

This four-year initiative is a partnership between the foundation, OCHE, the Office of Public Instruction and the Montana Department of Labor and Industry.

iGraduate Montana will build on the work of Graduation Matters Montana, which resulted in the state’s highest high school graduation rate. iGraduate Montana will continue a focus on raising graduation rates from 80 percent in 2010 to 86 percent in 2017.

"IGraduate won't replace Graduation Matters; replace isn't the right word," Dylan Klapmeier, OPI director of communcations, said. "Local Graduation Matters efforts are still thriving. At the state level, it was a personal project of the previous administration. Things are going to look different."

Klapmeier stressed that iGraduate is about building career pathways for students and introducing them to resources for success beyond the classroom earlier in their education.

Communities retaining their Graduation Matters programs also can benefit from the iGraduate initiatives, John Cech, deputy commissioner of higher education, said.

"This is the first time we will have the ability to tie everything together and leverage the full power of all of these initiatives," Cech said. "We want to sit down with everyone and get them into the loop on how we can tie in other programs to help further student growth. Our goal is to work with communities with Graduation matters and new communities."

The iGraduate Montana initiative will help to match each student’s career interests with courses they should take during their four high school years, including dual enrollment opportunities.

For high schools, the initiative will leverage existing OCHE and OPI collaborative efforts such as the Montana Career Pathways, College Application Week and free ACT exam for high school juniors to create a more seamless pathway for students to continue beyond high school to either a two-year or four-year college.

“The focus on graduation is important to the Foundation," Mike Halligan, executive director of the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation, said in a statement. "However, we believe it is important that we address longer-term workforce development issues. The iGraduate Montana partnership takes advantage of the deep relationships that already exist between OCHE, OPI, the MTDLI and employers across the state. These partnerships will allow OCHE to hit the ground running with programs that can be implemented in the schools beginning this school year.”

Students also will learn about new apprenticeship opportunities available to them after college including the traditional trades programs and new opportunities in healthcare, nursing, information technology and business.

“I am excited to expand the OPI’s collaboration with higher education and Montana’s business community through the iGraduate program," Elsie Arntzen, state superintendent, said in a statement. "This new partnership honors Montana’s investment in our K-12 school system and builds for the next step in a student’s life."

The grant will be coordinated through the Academic and Student Affairs division of OCHE. Cech will lead a steering committee that will include representation from higher education, OPI, MTDLI, private sector and other key stakeholders. These collaborations will be leveraged to advance the goals of iGraduate Montana.

“iGraduate Montana will also be able to leverage the new $24.5 million grant from US Department of Education to OCHE to increase the number of Montana low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education," Cech said in a statement.

For more information about the iGraduate Montana initiative, visit http://www.mus.edu/iGraduateMontana.